Series 4
| # | Title | Director | Writer | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 | "The Loss of the Helen May" | Raymond Menmuir | Alun Richards | 25 April 1976 (1976-04-25) |
| Albert Frazer has died and James in a foul mood. Petroleum has begun to be shipped to the UK from America, though how to transport the fuel is in dispute: barrels, or in bulk. Robert smells profit from this new cargo. The Helen May, a Frazer steam vessel carrying petroleum sinks entering the River Mersey in dense fog: The barrels have leaked and explode when the crewman watching the cargo carries a kerosene lantern in the fumes against orders. James, under sail and also returning home, refuses to put a boat out for survivors, claiming it has gone down with all hands. Baines and James are at odds: James feels the need to capitalise on Fraser's misstep; Baines is energized by regrets at not searching for lost seamen. They argue: afterwards, James has a strange turn; he may be going blind. A seaman, still alive washes up on shore. At the accident inquest, the survivor testifies that the vessel was proceeding at top speed. The conclusion is of dereliction of duty on the part of the master of the Helen May. Elizabeth is living with Mr Frazer: They have sent Albert's plans and concepts for bulk carriage of petroleum to Philadelphia. | ||||
| 44 | "A Cold Wind Blowing" | Raymond Menmuir | Martin Worth | 2 May 1976 (1976-05-02) |
| As the technology of ocean-going steam improves, James has trouble getting business and crew for his sail-based fleet; with just one steamer, he can't compete with the steamers' guaranteed delivery dates. A new face on the scene, Mr Briggs and his Briggs Line is competing hard for business with a steam-only fleet, and demanding more ships from Frazer. Elizabeth is encouraging Frazer to borrow money to expand his yard and produce more steam vessels, and he agrees, somewhat reluctantly. James obtains a £5000 cash cheque from Briggs for his one steamer, the Anne Onedin. He then buys old Captain Fowey's fleet of seven ships. James has received a telegram from Robert warning him the Welsh miners are going on strike. As the miner's strike spreads, James has doubled his fleet at a rock bottom price, and sold the steamer at the peak of its value. With coal unavailable, James soon fills all his new ships. | ||||
| 45 | "Not Wanted on Voyage" | Gareth Davies | Martin Worth | 9 May 1976 (1976-05-09) |
| James and Elizabeth set off for Buenos Aires to search for plans of a refrigeration plant invented by Albert. The plans are in Liverpool all the time but turn out to be useless. Frazer dies, having learned that Elizabeth's son, his grandson, William, is not Albert's, but Fogarty's. He still bequeaths him the Frazer Line, placing it in trust until he comes of age, the company to be run by Elizabeth in the meantime. | ||||
| 46 | "Undercurrent" | Lennie Mayne | Martin Worth | 16 May 1976 (1976-05-16) |
| James spends time with his daughter Charlotte and her governess, Letty Gaunt (Jill Gascoine). Elizabeth takes over the reins at the Frazer line. Rather than join the "conference" (a shipping cartel), she enters the all-male shipping club and undercuts the conference rate. She also begins a relationship with Matthew (one of her captains). Elizabeth's rate is loss-making, but she banks on having deeper pockets and driving the competition out of business, picking up their ships, and cargo routes, as they fail. Meanwhile, James picnics with his daughter's governess, to the pleasure of Charlotte. | ||||
| 47 | "Quarantine" | Michael Hayes | Ian Curteis | 23 May 1976 (1976-05-23) |
| On steamer to Liverpool, three men die of fever in a day. The captain hides this from the port authority to avoid quarantine. The deception is revealed when a head count reveals the crew is three short. The Captain's young daughter falls ill, and, ignoring orders that no one is to come ashore, he sends her to the city on a "johnny boat". The vessel is quarantined for 40 days. As fever (identified as "septecemic plague", transmitted by fleas on the girl's pet guinea pig) spreads on-shore, Robert argues strongly that the port must provide for the welfare of the populace, even at cost to his own business. James attempts to take the quarantined vessel out of port, the master of the boat is now ill and soon after dies – clearly the boat harbours the disease. Elizabeth asks James to return home. Meanwhile the council resolve to arrest those responsible – they fire a warning shot and arrest the boat. The medical officer who blew the whistle is dismissed. All of Liverpool is now under a force majeur government action. | ||||
| 48 | "Uncharted Island" | Lennie Mayne | Ian Curteis | 30 May 1976 (1976-05-30) |
| Baines stumbles across a guano island. One of his crewmen realises the value of the find and seeks to record the location. Because he is illiterate, he cannot read the sextant's last setting, instead sketching what it looks like. Back at port James and Baines set about planning to mine the island. James needs capital to put as many ships on the task as possible. Meanwhile while the crewman tells Matt Harvey, who plans to take a Frazer ship to the guano island. Baines beats him senseless. William Gladstone's niece, seeing that the seamen's trouble when Liverpool shipping was shut by the plague was in part due to their lack of additional skills, suggests a plan of basket making: Elizabeth cannot help but laugh at her unworldly, if kind thought. Matt's bad directions mean he doesn't find the island, bringing back instead whale bone (a valuable cargo) and news that the island's guano is too acidic to be of use. Elizabeth is excited at beating James, 'til she learns that he and Baines knew, and took an acidity testing kit allowing him to mine only usable guano. He secures credit at 6%, on condition he provides training for the sailors), and makes off for a full guano run with an expanded fleet. | ||||
| 49 | "A Clear Conscience" | Michael Hayes | Cyril Abraham | 6 June 1976 (1976-06-06) |
| Uncle Percy Spendilow is accused of stealing two £5 notes from Frazer's office, and is sentenced to six months hard labour. James' daughter Charlotte has diphtheria. Elizabeth bribes a prison guard to be kind to Spendilow while they try to discover the truth. Robert fusses over James' accounts – trying to count his worth. James reveals that his £15 share has grown perhaps 12,000 times under James' tutelage. Baines and Matt see Elizabeth's clerk, Drummond, spending freely, and a sting is arranged: he's left to count loose cash, and steals a marked £5 note. Charlotte recovers. James is accused of being too hard on the now-freed Spendilow, but Spendilow confesses he did take the money – the clerk only succumbed to the temptation of Elizabeth's entrapment. | ||||
| 50 | "Shipwreck" | Douglas Camfield | Martin Worth | 13 June 1976 (1976-06-13) |
| Elizabeth and James are both trying to buy a tug called the Alice. The Charlotte Rhodes has run aground off Mevagissey. Elizabeth buys the tug for £5000 and offers to tow the Charlotte Rhodes off for £2000. The ship is not insured so Captain Baines is loath to agree. They lift up the bell being carried as cargo and discover that the mast of the wreck has gone through the ships hull. The ship's carpenter uses the bell as a 'diving bell' to breathe underwater and cut the mast. An angry Elizabeth goes home by train leaving Matt behind. The episode ends with Robert drunk on scrumpy and learning that Disraeli has called a general election. | ||||
| 51 | "The Gamble" | Michael Hayes | Cyril Abraham | 20 June 1976 (1976-06-20) |
| Matt returns with his cargo of tin cans ruined by rust. Elizabeth is furious at the loss of £20,000 and blames Matt; Baines and Matt commiserate with each other in a bar. Robert approaches Mr Wilkinson (nephew of the elderly and infirm Mrs Salt) to buy the shop next door to the store owned by Salt, but is turned down. James then approaches Mrs Salt to buy the Salt shipping line but is turned down. James finds out that Wilkinson is in debt asks Elizabeth to find out the name of his moneylender. In return he promises to show Elizabeth how to avoid her loss (condensation caused the rust). Mrs Salt dies and Mr Wilkinson agrees to give the Salt Line to James in return for paying off his debts. James gives Matt the command of a ship and he sets off across the Atlantic with Elizabeth on the quay too late to deliver her apology. James borrows £1.25M at 2.5% to fund the 'Brazilian Venture' and puts up all his assets against this with Elizabeth investing her £20,000 in return for a directorship. Baines is put in charge of the Salt Line as Marine Superintendent with the promise of command of his own ship, the Christian Varick, later. | ||||
| 52 | "Month of the Albatross" | Douglas Camfield | Alun Richards | 27 June 1976 (1976-06-27) |
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Baines is found ill, by Matt Harvey, on the Christian Varick. This illness and the time taken to round 'The Horn' to get home is blamed on the killing of an albatross whose feet have been nailed to the mast. Robert has lost his seat in the election. While wandering later that night he stops a woman, Beatrice May, from committing suicide. Struck by her plight, he agrees to buy her property in Wilmington Street and become her landlord, so she can afford to revive her millinery business. Sarah is concerned by Robert's frequent absences and sends James and Elizabeth to talk to him. There is a nasty confrontation with James, whose innuendo provokes an increasingly defensive Robert. Ultimately Robert reveals what has been going on, insisting that there has been no 'impropriety' and that he has stopped James owning the entire street by buying Beatrice's property. Christmas comes and James is in a benign mood with his daughter Charlotte and her governess. Baines returns from sea to spend Christmas with his niece and her two small children, and is horrified to find them living on the streets in the freezing weather. She was one of the tenants evicted by James and tried repeatedly to appeal to him but he refused to see her. The Onedins spend a cheerful Christmas together and James makes a toast – 'to us'! The festivities are interrupted when Baines turns up, in a fury. He confronts James, condemns his cruel nature and vows never to sail with him again. James is mortified and tries to plead with his friend, but Baines refuses to listen and walks away. Any remaining Christmas spirit is ruined completely when Elizabeth tells James that she has agreed to make Matt a partner and that Baines can work for her instead. In reflective mood, James and Letty spend the rest of the evening together by the fire. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Onedin Line Episodes
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